Larry Ellison has long collected islands, yachts and even a tennis tournament. Now, he has come within a whisker of collecting the title of the world’s richest man.
The 81-year-old Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL, ETR:ORC) founder briefly leapfrogged Elon Musk on Wednesday after the software group’s shares jumped more than 40% on blockbuster earnings.
At the peak, Ellison’s stake was worth $393 billion, just ahead of Musk’s $384 billion, industry data showed.
But by the close, Oracle’s gains had eased, leaving Ellison with $378 billion and back in second place.
His wealth remains fuelled by booming demand for Oracle’s cloud services from artificial intelligence companies, even as his decades-long friendship with Musk keeps the two billionaires closely linked.